Rule.



H. E. LEE.

RULE.

APPLICATION man OCT. 5. 1914.

1,150,277. Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

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COLUMBlA PLANOURAPH co..WAsI-|lNnToN, B4 c.

HARRY E. LEE, OF OAKLAND, CALIFQRNIA.

RULE.

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Specification of iietters Patent. Patented Aug. 1? H915.

Application filed Gctober 5, 1914. Serial No. 865,176.

' provides accurate continuous straight edges when therule is open, the rule having its sections adjustable to various angles whereby one section can be temporarily held at an angle to the other section.

Stillfurther objects of the invention reside in a rule embodying various improvements over'a rule construction set forth in United States Patent No. 687,432, granted to me November 26, 1901.

The invention contemplates, among other features, the provision "of a rule in which the sections can be arranged 1n ahnement to .provide continuous straight edges or brought into angular relation .and in. which the angular relation of sections can be relatively but temporarily held for the purpose of securing a desired measurement or angle, said sections being relatively .foldable so that the rule can be easily carried in the pocket l In the further disclosure of the invention referehce is to he had to the accompanying .dr'awlngs, constituting a part of thls speclfication, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the rule, showing the sections in angular relation; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the'rule, ShOWll'lg the sections 1n allne- 'ment; Fig. 3 is. a fragmentary 'plan View .of the rule showm'g the sections relatively '45 folded; Fig.4; is a fragmentary sectional view of the rule,'showing the means for .jtemporarily holding the sections in angular relation, the sections in i this view being shown in 'alinement; Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the sections in angular relation, one of thejlocking members being shown in section; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional View taken on the. line 77 in Fig. 5. a

Referring more particularly to the views,

the rule body is indicated by the numeral 15 and conslsts of similar sections 16, these sections being hingedly related as and for apurpose that will be hereinafter more fully disclosed. Each of the sections at its inner end carries a substantially circular disk or .boss 17 provided witha diametrical groove Orchannell-S in which is'arranged a plurality of opposed members 19 pressed relatively outward by an expansible helical spring 20 arranged between the members and having its ends seated in openings 20 in said members. A plate 21 has openings 22 thereinyone opening beingprovided for each disk 17 and through which the disk extends, said plate connecting the sections a 16, as will be readily seen, it being of course understood that there is a disk 17 provided for each section, with corresponding memgerls 19 in the groove-like channel 18 of each lsr. i

The plate 21 is provided with spaced InotchesQS, each of which is formed-to provide alcurvedwall and a straight wall, with the straight wall forming a stop 24, as will be clearly seen by referring to the views. -.The members 19 upon each disk, operated uponby the spring 20, areadapted to have their outer ends project into the notches,

said notches. and members, however, being arranged so that when one member of each disk is in one of the notches, the other member of the disk will be out of the other notch- The free ends of the members are furthermore formed with a curved edge to conform to the curvature of the wall of each notch so that when a swinging move- .ment is imparted to one of the sections the section canbe hinged upon the plate in both directions to a limited extent, the limit of movement ofeachjsection relatively to the :plate being determined by, the position of the section withrespect to the plate and its angular, relation thereto andwhereby, when p the section is alined with the plate, said section cannot be swungo'utwardly beyond its normal alinement with the plate, this being prevented by having the straight edge of one ofthe membersl9 abutting against the .stop 24; when the member extends into the notch in the; plate which has its wall-forming the stop 24. m

Now referring to Fig. awe will assume that the sections have been relatively alined and are in alinement withthe plate. It will now be clearly seen that the right hand sec-.

- section and the plate for-the reason that tion cannot be swung upwardly or outwardly and out of alinement with the other one of the members in the disk of the section bears against the stop 24: of the plate. So also with the other section and which has reached its limit of outward or upward movement. It will beseen, however, that either the left or right hand section can be swung inwardly so that one section will lie at right anglesto the other and as shown in Fig. 5 the left hand section is shown swung inwardly at right angles to the right hand section, this being possible for the reason that one of the members on the disk of the left hand section can be moved out of the notch in the plate when the section is swung inwardly on account of-the curvature of the wall of the notch and the curvature of the free end of'the member. It will be seen, however, that when the left hand section has been swung at right angles to the right hand section as shown in Fig. 5, the other member on the disk of the left handof that section is received in theother notch in the same manner in which the members on'the disk of the left hand sections are arranged. When this is done the two sections will be relatively folded as shown in 7 Fig. 3, and thusbyreferring to the views the sections, thus doing away with the'usual it will be seen that the two sections can be I moved from their relatively folded position associated with an indicator 26 on the left handsection and whereby the sections can be relatively moved to any desired angle, although they are shown in Fig. l as being temporarily located in relatively right angle position. 7

Referring to Fig. 2 it will be clearly seen that when the sections'are in alinement the inner edge 27 of the plate 21 forms a continuation of the inner straight edges 28 of recess which is formed in the ordinary rule at the juncture of the sections. It will be further clearly seen that when the sections are open to lie in alinement and the rule is inwardly toward the otherby simply eXertmg a pressure upon the out-side edge ,of the section and which pressure-1s transverse to I the length of the section.

With a rule ofthe character described, the collapsing of the rule when the. sections are relatively open and in alinement is prevented and, furthermore, the sections can be angularly related andEtemporarily locked in their angular relation, being also movable into any-desired relative angularity as mentioned. The plate connecting the sections furthermoreacts as a reinforcement at the point ofhinging of the sections and thusit will be seen that the rule set forth will be of a more durable construction and greater strength than the ordinary rule having the usual hinge sections. 7 i. r

I am awareflthat' rules have-been used heretofore which c'an'be angularly related erally. in these instances a longitudinal movement of one of the sections is necessary inorder to efiect the temporary locked re-' and locked in an angular relation, 'butigen- 1 lation of the sections, the longitudinalmovement of oneof the sections being followed by a swinging movement inorder to accomplish the desired result. In my device, however, it is only necessary to swing one sec-' tion relatively to the other without initially moving one of the sections longitudinally of itself, and? thus it will be seen that with a rule of the character described the sections composing the rule being hinged in a novel manner can be relatively folded to lie adja cent each other; unfolded to relatively al-ine or partially folded to be temporarily locked at right angles or relatively folded at right angles to each other within an'arc ofone hundred and eighty degrees.

. Having thus described my invention, I

' claim 1. In a rule, a plurality of similar sections, a disk on each section and provided with a groove, a plate in hinged relation to the disksand swingingly connecting the sections, said plate being provided withpairs of notches, and

groove of each disk and associated with each pair of notches wherebysaid sections can be temporarily locked in angular relation.

diametrically opposed" springactuated locking members in the no I with a pair of the notches to extendtherein and temporarily lock the sections in angular relation.

3. In combination with a plurality of swingingly connected sections capable of being moved into or out of relative alinement, a plate having spaced notches and effecting the swinging connection between the sections, and opposed springmctuated means for each section and adapted to ex- Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the notches of the plate to temporarily lock the sections in angular relation.

5. In combination with a plurality of swingingly connected sections capable of being moved into or out of relative alinement, a plate having spaced notches and effecting swinging connection between the sections, and opposed locking members for each section and adapted to extend into the notches of the plate to temporarily lock the sections in angular relation, one of said locking members extending into one of the notches when the other member is removed from the other notch.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. HARRY E. LEE.

Witnesses:

F. A. Hos'rER, E. EDMoNsToN, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

